mudflap
Well-known member
No Snappy truck anymore, so thought i would give ICON a try..but no luck.
Why no ICON line wrenches ?
- Thread starter mudflap
- Start date
Wamsutta
Well-known member
If there was any all they'd be is an attempt to copy Snap-on.
DAWrench
Well-known member
Been wondering that myself. And no flare nut crowsfoot wrenches. If the want to compare themselves to tool trucks they need to have the stuff that is on the tool trucks
nicks78camaro
Well-known member
I've had good luck with my USA made SK line wrenches. Probably could find on eBay.
Edit: flare nut wrenches
Edit: flare nut wrenches
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If you're gonna copy something, might as well be the best.
tyyost
Well-known member
Volume of sales would be my guess? At my HF sales seem to sell down hardline stock, Icon especially. I guess in the scheme of things they sell they would find it more difficult to bring the value proposition in sales to a set of 4 or 5 wrenches.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
To answer the original question my guess is that there isn't enough volume to justify the part number. Not that many people actually use line wrenches as most use open ends. Now, as to whether that's a good idea or not is a good question but HF deals in volume and I don't think line wrenches are a volume item.
rancherbill
Well-known member
Oh, I didn't know Snapon invented every tool in the world. That's good to know. Now I know why everything else is just a snappy copy.
Wrong.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
There'd be something "off" about them if I was to inspect them. Every ICON tool I've seen is that way. The first thing I check is ergonomics. I look for square or sharp edges. Anything that's going to cause discomfort. The second thing I check is sloppiness. Anything that's whacky loose.
I bought a set of snap on double end line wrenches for what I thought was a good deal. Maybe 15 or 20 a wrench? And there double ended like 8 and 10 so you need half as many. I was thinking of selling them but looked on eBay and all of them were the same price. So honestly I just keep them but the point is the snap on ones on eBay were cheap last time I looked.
Line wrenches are for the professionals as only a professional would know to use them as opposed to a standard open ended wrench.
Professionals do not shop at Harbor at freight. And thus, no line wrenches there. The HF customer base would not even know what a line wrench is.
Part sarcasm, part taking a guess.
Professionals do not shop at Harbor at freight. And thus, no line wrenches there. The HF customer base would not even know what a line wrench is.
Part sarcasm, part taking a guess.
i can't speak for your location but of the 2 stores i frequent i don't think i have ever not seen at least 1 customer in a work uniform. car dealerships, heavy equipment, agricultural, students from various tech schools, wrecker operaters. etc. they seem to be shopping for tool storage, icon and the other better-quality items. not just looking, buying.
i think it can be safely said that some if not many professionals are filling their needs with products from hf. to deny it is just as silly as saying that only professionals buy truck brand tools. we know that is false.
i think it can be safely said that some if not many professionals are filling their needs with products from hf. to deny it is just as silly as saying that only professionals buy truck brand tools. we know that is false.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
^^^^ ban this guy. He's speaking common sense and not emotional nonsense. What right does he have to come on this board and speak factual truth. STONE HIM!
to add to my comment. the term professional is used way to loosely. i know far too many "professionals" who are nothing but pure hacks. how they keep their jobs is beyond me. on the same note, i know several shade tree guys who can fix damn near anything with little or no formal training.
i suppose saying this. someone will say it must be the hacks shopping at hf. as a counter to this, a friend of mine works as a heavy truck mechanic in a dealership. in his home shop he works on anything and everything on side jobs from overhauls to body work and windshield installation. while i know he has truck brand stuff he had every brand one could imagine laying in his home shop and it is much the same in his shop work bay. if it works, he uses it
I’ve used the standard and metric Pittsburgh pro line wrenches for several years with no problems, but to be fair of something looks super rusted or galled I hit it with the induction heater first. (on brake lines.)
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
Man, these arguments over HF tools never seem to get old.
My guess as to why there are no Icon line wrenches at this point is the Icon line seems to be generally oriented towards auto mechanics vs equipment or other industrial industries where line wrenches are more prevalent. I do see flare nut tools as a likely addition in their future as that seems to fit the line up better. Overall, the entire line has been a pretty slow roll out with some odd offerings at times, so you never know.
My guess as to why there are no Icon line wrenches at this point is the Icon line seems to be generally oriented towards auto mechanics vs equipment or other industrial industries where line wrenches are more prevalent. I do see flare nut tools as a likely addition in their future as that seems to fit the line up better. Overall, the entire line has been a pretty slow roll out with some odd offerings at times, so you never know.
How are line wrenches not "mechanic oriented?"
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
Are we talking flare nut style wrenches or angle type wrenches for hydraulic fittings?
Firebrick43
Well-known member
+1
(Hydraulic) Line wrenches, aka 4 way or angle head wrenches. pretty rare in auto mechanics tool boxes but common in A&P, industrial, and heavy equipment boxes
Flare Nut wrenches
Firebrick43
Well-known member
Sort of an odd argument as icon sells line wrenches.
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The second is universally recognized as a "line wrench" even though "flare nut wrench" is the proper terminology. The first is an "angle wrench," and far less common in a mechanics box. I am sure, like most slang terms, it varies by region and trade. I know that when I ask for a "line wrench" on the Snap On truck or at the industrial tool place, I get the second wrench.+1
(Hydraulic) Line wrenches, aka 4 way or angle head wrenches. pretty rare in auto mechanics tool boxes but common in A&P, industrial, and heavy equipment boxes
Flare Nut wrenches
I had literally never heard a flare nut wrench called anything but a line wrench until I discovered this forum, and had only ever seen angle wrenches on the tubing and installation shop at the oilfield plant I worked at eons ago.
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
Sort of an odd argument as icon sells line wrenches.
Harbor Freight | Whatever You Do, Do It For Less
Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!www.harborfreight.com
Interesting. They don't show up for me from your link, but if I type in the part number they show up. I've seen this on the HF website before with some of their pliers.
There we go, no need to argue.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
Been an aircraft mechanic for 5 years in California and industrial mechanics in Indiana for nearly 20 years and at min you would be laughed at for handing a flare nut wrench to another mech when he asked for a line wrench.
Dad was a cat skinner and mech at a cat dealer for most of his career and was the same way.
Maybe locally you do but it’s not universal.
Maybe auto mechs bastardize the naming because so few of the work on (complex) hydraulics.
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That's quite likely true.
four.cycle
Well-known member
I had literally never heard a flare nut wrench called anything but a flare nut wrench until I discovered this forum.
It's already been said, but the reason they're not found at Harbor Freight is because they are a low-volume item - HF is in the high-volume business.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
They are found at HF, sae and metric. They are just not branded as ICON but as quinn
DAWrench
Well-known member
But it is Harbor Freight. They have to have three quality levels on everything they sell. Lol
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ That's crazy. But obviously Eric knows what he's doing, or at least it appears to be so.
I wasn't aware they sold ANY flare nut wrenches at HF at all - I don't spend a lot of time "shopping" there. What I do know is they are a slow-moving item - you will sell 50 9/16" combos for every ONE flare nut wrench you sell - at least that was my experience.
I wasn't aware they sold ANY flare nut wrenches at HF at all - I don't spend a lot of time "shopping" there. What I do know is they are a slow-moving item - you will sell 50 9/16" combos for every ONE flare nut wrench you sell - at least that was my experience.
Around here….
Line wrench = Flare nut wrench
4 way wrench = Angle wrench
Either way, the op was talking about the flare nut wrench which icon does not have.
Why? Obviously there is not enough money to be made there. Why is that? Well, that’s likely a complicated thing with no sure answer.
But to say that there is nothing “automotive” about them is pushing it. They are pretty essential for automotive use i would say (as are 4 way wrenches).
Line wrench = Flare nut wrench
4 way wrench = Angle wrench
Either way, the op was talking about the flare nut wrench which icon does not have.
Why? Obviously there is not enough money to be made there. Why is that? Well, that’s likely a complicated thing with no sure answer.
But to say that there is nothing “automotive” about them is pushing it. They are pretty essential for automotive use i would say (as are 4 way wrenches).
Firebrick43
Well-known member
No one said that about flare nut wrenches?
A high percentage of professional car mechanics go their entire careers without a set of 4 way wrenches.
And where is “Around here”
For me…around here is Oklahoma.
I actually polled four guys I know well, and who work on a lot of stuff, from hot rods to 4x4s to tractors and farm equipment. I sent them the two photos.
All four identified the “flare nut wrenches” as “line wrenches,” two of them didn’t know what the angle wrenches were, one called them “hydraulic wrenches” and the other responded “those sure would be handy for hydraulic lines.”